Gjoerulv, author of the Hardcore mod for FF7 (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=6818.0), put out a new project called the MonoMod; a challenge-restriction mod where your character stats are fixed to 1 and only have a small amount of HP/MP (270 and 90 max base respectively). However, you also get access to almost all of the game's unique equipment and materia from the start and making the best use of these is the key to survival. The MonoMod is available as an option in Gjoerulv's Hardcore mod installer so download that from the above link if you want to give it a try yourself.
This screenshot LP is broken up into segments separated by area and/or boss, starting off in the 1st Reactor.
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Reactor No.1
So starting off, we have a Lv.1 Cloud with 1 in every stat and only 10 HP/MP. Fortunately, we've also got near enough every piece of armour and accessory to make use of in keeping him alive for the first battle.
And as becomes apparent really really fast, this equipment and your approach to fights needs to be on the ball to avoid disaster.
With a level-up, Cloud's HP jumped up more than double to 22 which afforded a lot more breathing space. But while having a Ziedrich + Protect Ring reduced damage he was taking to 1, it left Barret with less effective defensive options to take and even in the back row he was taking some serious heat from the enemies further down the Reactor.
A nasty surprise was waiting when we reached Guard Scorpion. Despite using Defend on his Search Scope target to mitigate his follow-up attack, the damage being dealt was still uncomfortably high. Cloud has a Ziedrich and Protect Ring on as well, which is reducing damage even further:
It's manageable due to the pause in his attacks to telegraph his next target (and the long pause during tail raised) but it doesn't bode well for the later enemies and bosses who are far less easier to predict. I also noticed that despite having high damage output from Barret thanks to the equipment bonuses, the fight still took longer overall as Bolt had much less MP to make use of. After 3 cycles, the boss went down:
So all in all, things went well but these enemies were among the weakest in the game and with the boss hitting decent damage through a Ziedrich and the Defend command it doesn't bode too well for the future. The next area has more dangerous enemies like the hard-hitting Rocket Launchers and the area boss, Air Buster, counters all attacks made against him. It's going to be rough, but we'll see how the Materia changes things once that gets unlocked in Sector 7...